Bag of Holding
by McWhite
Summary: A collection of mostly short challenge responses. The stories that end up here will usually be complete (though maybe open-ended). Note that some of these are definitely outside of my comfort zone due to the challenging nature of, well, challenges.
1. In the Face

**In the face**

 _My response to the Ultimate Challenge! (To get more people signing up for Challenges!). My prompt was Lucius/Narcissa._ _I don't own Harry Potter._

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Narcissa lazed on an armchair in the living room of Malfoy Manor, the private one for family only, to be exact. Lucius was sat across from her on the sofa reading a newspaper. It was early in the evening, just the two of them. Narcissa pondered whether she should seduce her husband into going to bed early today.

Looking over at him as he continued to read, Narcissa allowed a smile to tug on her lips. Sometimes she felt guilty that as her parents favourite (and the youngest) they had a love marriage arranged for her, while both her sisters hadn't had that kind of luck. Then again, it was their own fault for not looking for a boy early on who would please their parents and be able to pressure his own into setting up a betrothal.

Narcissa had gotten her hooks into Lucius early on. He had first noticed her in third year, but he had been so immature back then. Much like Draco was today. So while staying close enough to not give up her claim on him, Narcissa had let him simmer until he grew up. In their fifth year they started dating and at the end of their sixth year they were betrothed.

"Dear, you know it makes me nervous when you stare at me like that." Lucius suddenly said without ever looking up from his paper.

"Rightly so." Narcissa gave back. Lucius looked up into her eyes and raised both his eyebrows in question. Yes, Narcissa decided, he was going to get lucky tonight.

She started to formulate a plan on how to proceed, not that a plan was truly needed for her to seduce her husband, but she was a Slytherin, planning it was half the fun. Alright, in this case maybe a quarter of it… a fifth, let's say a fifth. However, before she could really get anywhere, there was a tapping sound by the window. Narcissa frowned a little. Mail this late might mean that she would have to reschedule her chosen evening activity. That would be unfortunate.

"Who sends owls this late in the day?" Lucius asked in an annoyed voice as he laid the paper down, got up and walked towards the window. Narcissa would like to know that, too.

When her husband came back, Narcissa recognised Draco's owl and handwriting on the envelope. "It's from Draco." Lucius announced.

"You don't say." Narcissa gave back. "What's the problem this time?" It was the middle of the week and Draco only wrote during weekends, unless there was a problem. Which happened to be the case more often than Narcissa would have liked. Most of the problems he wrote to them about were moronic, at best. She loved her son, but if she was honest Draco was much like Lucius that age. Arrogant, without much to back it up. The resemblance was uncanny, only Lucius hadn't run to his parents every time something didn't go according to his wishes. Narcissa did have hope though that Draco would grow out of this phase as his father had. The potential shone through every now and then, so for the moment she was content to let most of it slide.

While Narcissa had been in thought, Lucius had opened the envelope and started reading the letter. "It's about that Granger girl again."

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Tell him if he is unhappy that the Muggleborn gets better marks than him, he needs to sit down and study." Really, as if Lucius or she could do anything about the marks someone received. Narcissa wasn't pro-Muggleborn, but she knew the teachers in Hogwarts to be strict and fair (at least in terms of the marking) and so she knew that if someone had marks as good as the Granger girl supposedly had, she earned them. Even more so, Narcissa supposed, if she was Muggleborn. Maybe Narcissa should take a closer look at the girl at some point. One should try and make use of a talent, no matter where it resided. At the very least one had to know one's future enemies.

"It's not about the marks." Lucius said after he had read a bit further.

"Then tell him that if he wants her respect he needs to do something worthy of respecting him." Muggles were proud people these days. They didn't just grovel before you because you told them you were above them. That of course led to the Muggleborns not knowing their place these days. You had to show it to them, and Narcissa feared Draco currently severely lacked the ability to do so.

"It's not about that either."

Well, at least then it was something new. Usually, when her son complained about the Granger girl it was always about her getting better marks than him or her not knowing her station. Oh, and how she's helping Potter all the time, that too. All that Narcissa concluded from her son's usual complaints was that the girl would make a fine Vassal if she only could be trained to be one. Nothing to be held against her, as far as Narcissa could see.

Finally Lucius put down the letter, a look of bewilderment on his face. Narcissa raised her eyebrows. This may be good. "It seems the Granger girl hit him and nearly broke his nose."

Whatever Narcissa had expected, this wasn't it. "Come again?"

"The Granger girl hit Draco in the face so hard he had to go and see the school nurse."

Narcissa blinked a few times, then she couldn't help herself. She started chuckling. Though the ignorant and uneducated masses might have mistaken her chuckling for laughter. A true pureblood girl doesn't outright laugh.

Lucius looked at her bemusedly, although the corners of his lips also quirked up a little, probably in amusement at her unusual display of mirth. Still he raised a questioning eyebrow.

After a couple of seconds, Narcissa managed to calm down long enough to say "Like father, like son." Then she started chuckling anew.

For a few moments Lucius looked confused, then a look of understanding appeared on his face. He joined in with a bit of chuckling of his own. "I had forgotten about that." He stated, a look of amusement and melancholy on his face.

Narcissa, who finally managed to stop chuckling, cocked an eyebrow. "How could you forget the first time you asked me out?"

Lucius looked pained for a moment. "I prefer to remember the many times after that, where you agreed instead of knocking me unconscious so that I had to spend the night in the hospital wing, wife." He pointed out sternly, even though his expression soon turned to amusement again.

"You were a wimp back then. Really, who gets knocked to the ground because he takes a slap to the face? It wasn't my fault that you landed head first on the edge a stone."

"I'm a Malfoy. People don't generally hit us in the face."

"And I was a girl of pureblood upbringing. How much training do you think I had slapping people around before I tried it on you."

Lucius seemed to look for a counter argument for a few moments, but then he sighed. "Fair enough."

"Maybe it's some kind of family curse." Narcissa pondered.

"What is?"

"Getting hit in the face by your future wives. I remember your father complaining about your mother slapping him around Hogwarts when he came too close to a Veela one time, before they got together."

Lucius eyes clouded over. "I remember that. Wasn't that the evening we convinced them to negotiate a betrothal with your family."

"It was." Narcissa agreed, smiling fondly. "So are there any stories about your grandmother hitting your grandfather before their betrothal?"

Frowning in concentration, Lucius fell silent for a few seconds. "Now that you mention it, dear, I believe I remember a story where my grandmother was quite irate with my grandfather, because he decided to go broom racing with his mates and nearly got himself killed by flying into a tree. They started going out soon after that."

"Well, then I guess we know what to tell Draco."

"What is that, dear?"

"That you'll talk to the Granger girl's parents to set up a betrothal, of course." Narcissa quipped. "If every Malfoy finds his match by being hit in the face, who are we to break tradition."

Lucius shivered a bit at the thought. "You shouldn't joke about those things, dear. My heir with a Muggleborn, really."

"Wimp." Narcissa repeated. She agreed that it was a ridiculous notion, but that didn't mean she couldn't joke about it. "Well, maybe we can wait and tell Draco the happy news when the betrothal is finalised. If all goes according to tradition, by that time the two of them should've been on a couple of dates. I can already see the look of joy on his face when we tell him."

Despite his obvious distaste, her husband snorted at her last words. "So I guess we let him work this out on his own?" He asked after a couple of seconds, more serious this time.

"Definitely." Narcissa agreed. If the Granger girl managed to knock some sense into Draco, then Narcissa was all for it. Remembering her original plans for the evening she snatched her husband's hand out of the air before he could pick the newspaper back up. "Enough reading for today, husband." She said, standing up and walking around the small tea table.

"My colleagues in the Wizengamot will think that I feel other things are more important than being well informed." There wasn't really any complaint in Lucius voice.

"And how right they would be." Narcissa simply replied, sitting down beside him and starting to kiss his neck. Then she moved back a little and looked him in the eyes sharply. "Wouldn't they?"

With a smile on his face, her husband sighed. "Yes dear."

Returning his smile, Narcissa got up again and led her husband to the bedroom.

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 _Thanks for reading :)_


	2. Life is Pain

**Life is pain**

 _This is my response to Lexi's Story-Baking Challenge._ _ _The prompts were Cedric, Lavender and a quote._ __I don't own Harry Potter.  
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It was a beautiful winter night in Hogwarts. Most students were enjoying themselves, dancing, laughing. Some were kissing a girl or a boy for the first time in their lives. Older students were happy spending an evening of dining and dancing with their long term partners or simply with their friends. Others, who weren't as fortunate, were already in their beds, having left the Yule ball early after a disappointing evening.

In the garden that had been prepared in case people wanted to take a walk outside to talk privately or simply enjoy some fresh air, a blond girl sat on a park bench, sobbing silently. The bun in her hair had come lose, her make-up had started mixing with her tears and running down her face long ago and by now some of the tears mixed with make-up were staining her once gorgeous dress.

The girl didn't cry because the boy she had a crush on hadn't asked her to the ball. She also didn't cry because he had instead asked her best friends twin sister. The girl understood that both these things said nothing about the boy's feelings. No, the girl was crying because she had realised today that the boy's heart already belonged to another, even though he didn't know himself.

It was so unfair. Why did Hermione Granger have to be beautiful? Wouldn't her incredible smarts and her great, loyal character have been enough positive traits to compete with? Did she really have to suddenly show off in the one area Lavender though she had an advantage?

Lavender couldn't even be angry with her stupid dorm mate. It was nearly impossible to be angry with someone as good hearted and kind as Hermione. At least for Lavender it was. And it wasn't like Hermione had dressed up for Ron, or even that Lavender had told Hermione about her feelings for the boy. Then at least she could be angry with her dorm mate for taking him away from her. But now she couldn't even do that. It just wasn't fair.

"Lavender?"

Lavender pulled her head out of her hands and looked up in surprise. "Ceddy?" She asked. "What are you doing here? Where is Cho?" She looked around for the older Ravenclaw, hoping she wasn't around. Lavender didn't fancy people seeing her like this today.

"Cho went to the washroom and I told her I'd go outside looking for you. Can I sit?"

Lavender tried but failed to smile, so instead she just nodded. Cedric Diggory was her cousin, but their families were basically neighbours, so to her the Hufflepuff had always been more like an older brother. He sat down and was silent for a few moments, before he turned towards her.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Unable to suppress a sob, Lavender shook her head.

"Your date didn't treat you badly, did he?" Ceddy asked cautiously.

Lavender shook her head again, this time more vigorously. She had told Seamus to go and enjoy himself and that she would leave. If anything she had treated him badly, but she just hadn't been able to pretend to enjoy herself anymore and had thought it would be unfair to Seamus to ruin his evening as well.

She felt an arm curl around her shoulders and allowed Ceddy to pull her towards him. She buried her head in his shoulder, enjoying being comforted by her honorary older brother. They remained like this for several minutes with Lavender shedding new tears every now and then and Ceddy simply hugging her tightly and rubbing her back when her sobs became more frequent.

After ten minutes or so, Lavender had calmed down enough to stop her tears and sobbing, but she remained with her head on Ceddy's shoulder. Suddenly, he started speaking again. "Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something."

Lavender looked up into her honorary brother's face with wide eyes, wondering where that had come from. Usually Ceddy was always upbeat and strong. And today was his first date with a girl he'd pined after since last school year. So why would he say something like that?

Ceddy met her eyes and grinned. "It's a quote from a Muggle fairy tale I read." Lavender frowned, still wondering why Ceddy had brought it up. "Do you think it's true?"

Her first instinct was to ask what he was on about, but Ceddy suddenly looked so serious. So Lavender thought about the question instead. Right now, her answer would be yes. But then again she had always been a very emotional person so she might not be in the best place to make that kind of judgement right now. On the other hand Lavender knew that her life was a relatively sheltered one, so she thought she lacked the experience to be in a position to say no. After a couple of minutes thinking back and forth about the matter, Lavender shook her head again. "I don't know."

"Me neither." Ceddy confessed.

"Why bring it up?" Lavender asked confusedly.

Ceddy smiled. "It's something that has been bothering me for a while, and I don't really have that many people to talk about it."

Lavender didn't respond, instead she laid her head back down on Ceddy's shoulder. She idly wondered what Cho was doing in the washroom for this long, but she didn't complain. It wasn't often these days that Lavender got to spend time with her honorary brother in this way.

After a couple of more minutes, Ceddy spoke up again. "If Harry Potter hadn't told me about the dragon, I could've died, I think." Once more Lavender lifted her head and looked at the older boy in confusion about where he was going with this conversation. Ceddy shrugged. "It just gets you thinking, is all. I never thought about things like this before."

"You can't leave me." Lavender said, noticing that she sounded rather petulant.

Ceddy laughed. "I'm not planning to."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"I just think that maybe everyone can decide for themselves whether the quote is true or not."

"I don't understand."

"Some things are bad and they cannot be changed. If a person focuses on those their whole life, then clearly they would think the quote to be true. But if we instead focus on the good things or the things we can change…" Ceddy trailed off. "That's actually where I got the resolve to ask out Cho. I thought, I can't change how she feels, but I can do something about the uncertainty I was feeling."

Lavender looked at him for a while, before simply moving a little closer to fend off the cold and resting her head on his chest. She'd never been a philosopher of any kind, so she wasn't sure what to say. Could it really be that easy? Well, in her case there was no uncertainty, so there was that. But should she maybe just try and forget about the way Ron was feeling and do her own thing?

She followed that kind of thoughts for several more minutes before Ceddy once more broke the silence. "What I'm trying to say is this. I want you to be able to say that the quote is not true for you. Can you do that for me? Promise me you will try?"

Lavender raised her head and looked into her honorary brothers eyes. It was easy to see that these he was taking this very seriously. Could she promise it? She didn't know. She wasn't strong like Ceddy. She was weak, and she knew it. But what her brother suggested sounded much better than sitting on a park bench in a cold winter night and crying her eyes out.

After what seemed like an eternity to her she finally managed to open her mouth. "I promise I'll try." She said silently.

There was a look of relief on her brother's face seemed out of place but that Lavender would never forget.

Not long after that Ceddy had escorted her to the Gryffindor common room, before going back down to spend the rest of the night with Cho. At the time she hadn't known, but it would be the last meaningful conversation she would ever have with her honorary brother. Later, when she thought back to this moment, she would often ask herself whether Ceddy had known or at least somehow felt that he would die and whether that was the reason he'd had this conversation with her and the reason for the relief on his face.

Trying to honour her promise as best as she could, Lavender started working hard on herself after Ceddy's death. She became a member of the DA in her fifth year and took what Harry Potter taught them very seriously. By the time of OWLs she had improved her grades enough to attend a respectable number of NEWT classes. She took every class she could, mostly because she didn't know what she wanted to do after school.

In her sixth year she briefly fell back into old habits, when Ron Weasley came together with Hermione Granger, but she caught herself soon after and worked even harder. When Fenrir Greyback jumped at her during the battle of Hogwarts, her improved skill with magic saw him banished through a window before the beast could ever reach her. In the end, she belonged to the survivors of the battle and not because she had hidden away.

A month and twenty-two days later, June the 24th 1998, she was sitting at the bar in The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, a glass of fire whiskey in her hand. She'd come here with friends, but had told them she needed to be alone for fifteen minutes or so. Lavender had still not decided what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Parvati wanted to follow their old dream of studying fashion design in a Muggle university, but these days Lavender wasn't so sure that was what she wanted.

Harry Potter, after seeing her fight in the Battle of Hogwarts, had offered to talk to the Minister of Magic about getting her into Auror Training, despite a missing outstanding NEWT in Transfiguration and DADA (seventh year with the Carrows hadn't been particularly conductive to academic exellency). Lavender was surprised that Harry's offer actually sounded quite tempting to her. However, she hadn't made a decision yet. She still had a month before she needed an answer and being an Auror was a demanding job and not an obligation entered into lightly.

While she didn't know yet what her future would hold, she did know whom to thank for the many opportunities that presented themselves to her. Lavender still missed her older brother, especially today, on the anniversary of his death. It had been three long and at times hard years, but Lavender knew that if he was here right now, he would be proud of her. She had kept her promise and would continue to.

She raised her glass a little and smiled. "It isn't true, Ceddy." She whispered, before downing the contents of her glass in one go. Then she stood up, left the glass and went back to her friends. The night was still young.

* * *

 _If you came this far, I hope you enjoyed._


	3. Confidence

**Confidence**

 _My response to the Tropes and Clichés Competition. This one was about changing the gender of one character and then exploring how the changed gender influences the story. In my case Fem!Neville is much more confident, since her Grandmother wasn't hell bent on having her be like her father._ _I don't own Harry Potter._

* * *

"Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

The two Hogwarts students Fleur had asked about her favourite dish turned around to her and Fleur was momentarily taken aback. She hadn't recognised it when she approached them from behind, but the boy was clearly Harry Potter. Standing closer to him now than when she walked past him after arriving in the castle, she noticed that he had rather expressive green eyes. The girl at his side was rather pretty in Fleur's opinion. She had dark blue eyes and short, blond-brown hair and seemed to have a rather athletic physique.

What surprised Fleur the most were that both were smiling back at her warmly. She was used to vacant stares from most boys and insecure or jealous expressions from the girls. It was Harry Potter who answered.

"No, that's fine, take it."

"Are you finished wiz eet?" Fleur inquired, not wanting to appear impolite.

"We are," the girl confirmed with a smile, "it was rather good. Wasn't it Harry?"

The boy-who-lived looked at the girl as if unsure what to say. Finally he settled for a shrug. "It's a bit too fancy for me, I guess." He looked up at Fleur apologetically. "Sorry."

Before Fleur could reply, the girl gave an incredulous snort. "What do you mean, 'too fancy for you'? When you cook back at the Manor you regularly whip up three course meals for my Grandmother and me!"

Harry Potter blushed cutely. "I don't cook that often." He mumbled.

The girl rolled her eyes at him, and Fleur couldn't help but let a little giggle escape. The pair didn't seem to be offended, as both smiled up to her kindly from their seats.

"Anyway, you can take it." The girl repeated, holding out the dish.

"Zank you." Fleur gave them a grateful nod and took the bowl from the girl. "Well, I do not want to disturb you any further. 'ave a nice evening."

With that Fleur turned and went back to her own seat, happily holding her favourite dish. While walking away, Fleur heard the girl ask "Did she seem a little freaked out to you?"

Harry Potter's voice answered. "Who knows? Must be quite an adjustment to come here. Maybe it's that."

"Maybe." The girl agreed, sounding sympathetic.

After that Fleur picked up her pace, not wanting to seem as if she was loitering. When she was back at her table, she put some of the bouillabaisse on her plate before setting the bowl down on the table. On a whim, she turned to the Hogwarts student next to her, an Asian looking girl who was a year or maybe two younger than Fleur herself.

"'oo is ze girl sitting next to 'arry Potter?" Fleur asked.

The Asian girl, whose name was Cho if Fleur remembered correctly, didn't even look. Her expression darkened considerably though.

"That's Ivy Longbottom." A younger Hogwarts student with pale eyes and dirty blond her piped up from a couple of seats away. "She and Harry Potter have been friends ever since first year, and they became a couple this summer." Most of the Hogwarts girls around them took on expressions of varying degrees of jealousy, but Fleur was too surprised about the identity of the girl to think about that. Her eyes went wide.

"You mean zat is Ivy Alice Longbottom?"

"Yes." The young girl nodded. Fleur felt her mouth fall open. She'd heard about Ivy Alice Longbottom of course. Herbology was one of her favourite subjects after charms and Beauxbatons was famous for its Herbology program. Naturally, she'd hear about a Herbology prodigy coming out of Hogwarts. But she never thought the girl in question would be this young.

"C'est impossible! You are telling me zat zis girl is ze co-author of ze paper on crossing Mandrakes and Screechsnaps to produce a form of Mandrakes who grow faster and whose scream is not 'armful to humans? The one zat won the ICW Herbology Prize last year in summer?"

"Oh, yeah she certainly is. It was from back when we needed a lot of Mandrakes because of the wave of petrification amongst the students. I don't know her that well, but she's our live-in Herbology prodigy and the duelling ace amongst the girls in her year group. She and Harry Potter are especially good as a team. I hear that they will take part in the European Youth Duelling Championships in the two against two competition next summer." The girl Fleur was talking to informed her, either oblivious of the worsening mood of the girls around her or not caring about it. "A lot of girls in the younger years look up to her." The blonde concluded.

Looking at the other Hogwarts girls around her, Fleur decided not to continue her questioning. Usually other girls reserved those kinds of expressions for Fleur. It was rather a strange experience for Fleur to see them caused by another girl. She shot the young girl she'd been talking to a grateful smile before starting to eat in silence.

Her thoughts still went back to her encounter with Ivy Longbottom. Her eyes had shone with such confidence when she had looked up towards Fleur. It was rare for Fleur to find a girl who could look at her without a sliver of insecurity sneaking into her expression. It was partially because of how boys usually acted around Fleur, partially because of her looks and partially simply the effect that her allure had on women and girls. But not on Ivy Longbottom, as far as Fleur could tell.

Many times during the remainder of dinner, Fleur found herself trying to subtly glance over towards Harry Potter and Ivy Longbottom. She wondered if she'd be able to talk to them again soon.

* * *

It turned out that Fleur didn't have to wait long to have the next encounter with Harry Potter and Ivy Longbottom. When Harry Potter stepped into the small room she and the other Tri-Wizard Champions had been herded into after the selection she first thought he was there to ask them back into the hall. However, when Ivy Longbottom followed him, Fleur knew immediately it had to be something else. They wouldn't need to send two students just to ask them to come back.

"My name came out of the Goblet." Harry Potter said after a couple of seconds of awkward silence and questioning glances.

"But zere are already three of us?" Fleur pointed out in confusion.

Before anyone could reply, the door opened again and the three head teachers together with the government officials stepped in. Fleur winced a little when she saw the enraged looks on the faces of her own Headmistress and Headmaster Karkaroff from Durmstrang.

"I would like to know what is going on here, Dumbledore? Hogwarts gets two Champions? That seems hardly fair, does it?" Headmaster Karkaroff shouted. "And why did you allow the girl here with us? This is none of her business."

Fleur could see Ivy Longbottom blistering, but before she could open her mouth her boyfriend slightly squeezed her hand and she seemed to relax a bit. Then she heard Headmaster Dumbledore chuckle, before he responded in a calm voice "I appreciate your concern, Igor, but from experience I know that it is not an easy undertaking to separate Mister Potter and Miss Longbottom on a normal day. It becomes next to impossible to do so in a situation where one of them thinks the other may be in danger."

"Miss Longbottom?" Madam Maxime asked curiously, now eyeing Harry's girlfriend with some interest. "Iz your sistair Ivy Alice Longbottom?" Knowing that this actually was Ivy Longbottom, Fleur winced again.

The girl seemed to take it in stride though, as she simply chuckled lightly. "I don't have a sister." She replied calmly. "I am Ivy Longbottom."

"C'est imposible! You are too young." Fleur didn't quite manage to suppress a smile due to the similarity of her Headmistress' reaction with her own.

Headmaster Dumbledore answered again, his eyes twinkling merrily. "You will find, Madame Maxime, that age is a poor indicator of skill when it comes to Miss Longbottom and Mister Potter here."

"The girl's academic achievements are hardly the topic here." The Headmaster of Durmstrang intervened. "The boy cheated in order to enter the tournament. We were assured something like this would not happen, Dumbledore."

Headmaster Dumbledore sighed and turned towards Harry Potter. "Did you place your name in the Goblet, Harry?" He asked calmly.

"No, I didn't." The boy-who-lived replied firmly.

Fleur's first reaction was disbelief, but she decided to keep it to herself. She definitely wanted to discuss some advanced Herbology with Ivy Longbottom if she got the chance and she didn't think the girl would take well to Fleur accusing her boyfriend. Not that she had to wait long for someone else to do it.

"Clearly the boy must be lying!" Headmaster Karkaroff shouted.

Harry Potter just snorted. "Yeah, right. Are you out of your mind? Do you know what Ivy would do to me if I did something as stupid as entering my name into that Goblet?"

There was barking laughter from the ugly man with the magical eye and all the scars. "Ha! At least you got your priorities straight there, Potter." Fleur noticed that Ivy Longbottom was looking mighty proud of herself. The ugly man continued "But Potter's right, it should be obvious he didn't put his name in. You saw what Dumbledore's protection did to those who tried."

"Zere must 'ave been a mistake." Madam Maxime argued.

Suddenly the Hogwarts Champion, Diggory or something, made his presence known. "I'm with Harry on this one. He and Ivy have spent a lot of time in the last two years protecting and helping lower year students from all houses. They continued to help the Hufflepuff first years with homework and everything else even when those in their own year ostracised them in their second year. If they say it wasn't them, then it wasn't them."

Both younger students shot the Hogwarts Champion a grateful smile. Fleur decided that there was no point in continuing this discussion one way or the other. If they were guilty, they clearly had enough support to hide it. And if they weren't, well, then there was even less point in insulting them. So she nodded towards both of them. "Innocent until proven guilty." She stated.

* * *

The day after the selection of Champions, Fleur sat by the shore of the lake wondering what she'd gotten herself into. Maybe she shouldn't have entered after all. It was dangerous. Yes, there were safety measures this time, but they failed already, hadn't they? No matter whether Harry Potter entered the tournament himself or whether he was entered, the fact remained that the security around the Goblet had failed. Her parents had already been worried without such an additional warning sign, so what would they say now? Fleur didn't like to make her family worry, especially not little Gabrielle.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when a voice appeared beside her. "Hello Fleur."

Fleur turned around and was surprised to find Ivy Longbottom standing there. Sure, she'd taken some notice of the girl, but she couldn't fathom for what reason the girl would just come up to her to talk.

"'ello, Ivy." Fleur replied cautiously.

The younger girl smiled at her. "Harry wanted me to tell you that he's very grateful for your help yesterday. Many students of our own school seem to think it was him who cheated, so even the assumption of innocence you gave means a lot to him."

Fleur raised her eyebrows. If that was the case, then why didn't Harry Potter tell her himself? Maybe she had misinterpreted the situation two days ago and Ivy Longbottom was susceptible to the allure after all and she had stopped her boyfriend from talking to Fleur alone. Fleur couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. She'd really hoped that she might have finally found a girl who's different from most others. Who, judging by the jealousy in the expressions of the Hogwarts girls when Fleur brought up Ivy's name, might even understand what Fleur is going through with other girls. But probably that had been too optimistic.

"I see." Fleur replied simply. "It was nozzing."

"No, it really means something to him. So thank you. From both of us." The girl smiled brightly.

"Why didn't he come with you then?" Fleur couldn't help but ask.

The other girl blushed and looked down to the ground. At least she was ashamed of her prejudice then. "Well…, it's hard to explain. But, do you remember when we first talked two days ago?"

"Yes?" Fleur confirmed in confusion.

"You seemed a little freaked out. Maybe we misinterpreted it. But… anyway, Harry is really uncomfortable around people who freak out about him being the boy-who-lived. That's why he asked me to come. It's nothing personal, he's really grateful, it's just…"

That was when the girl stopped or rather Fleur interrupted her by starting to laugh. Harry Potter was uncomfortable because he thought she had been freaking out about him. That was too good. As Fleur continued to laugh, Ivy Longbottom looked at her questioningly. Finally, when she managed to calm down enough, Fleur explained herself.

"I may 'ave been a little… 'ow do you say? Confused. But it wasn't because of 'arry's fame. Eet is rare for me to find students 'oo do not react to my allure, you know? When ze two of you did not react at all, eet just caught me off-guard."

The other girl's eyes widened. "Oh, so that's what it was. I'm sorry then. It's just, we didn't really know what else it could have been, so we thought…"

"Perfectly understandable." Fleur granted. After all, if a boy freaked out after seeing her she would assume it was because of her allure and her looks, not because she was great at charms or something like that.

"Well, in that case I'll let Harry know that he has nothing to fear from you. I think he'd like to have some sort of relationship to all the other Champions, you know?"

Fleur chuckled. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course, why not?" Ivy Longbottom asked with a confused voice.

"Eet is just, well, usually other girl's do not encourage their boyfriends to talk to me, much less to have some sort of relationship…"

The girl looked confused for a moment longer, then understanding dawned in her face. "Oh…" Her face fell further as the implications of what Fleur had said seemed to become clear to her. "Oh." She repeated.

"Yes." Fleur confirmed.

Then to her surprise, the girl shrugged. "Well, I'll trust my gut feeling, which at the moment says you're not a girl to steal another girl's boyfriend. And Harry is immune to nearly all mind magic, so your allure probably wouldn't work anyway, even if you tried." She stopped for a moment seemingly considering what else to say. Then she grinned. "And if it worked, then I'd just win him back from you." She pointed her tongue at Fleur.

Fleur couldn't help but giggle at the younger girl's outlook.

"Hey, do you want to join us? Harry and I are doing some training. Might be a little too easy for you, but I'm sure if we duel two against one we could give you a run for your money." The girl suddenly asked.

Fleur looked at her in surprise. "You are being serious?"

"Sure." The girl shrugged. "If you want?"

After a brief moment of consideration, Fleur stood up and nodded her head. "Lead ze way." She didn't have anything else to do and if she was honest duelling and defence were not her strongest subjects anyway. If it was true that Harry Potter and Ivy Longbottom would be participating in the European Youth Duelling Championships soon, she was sure she could learn a couple of things from them. Maybe she'd teach them some advanced charms in return. At the very least she could get a feel for her competition. And this whole tournament ultimately was meant to foster friendships, wasn't it? Fleur could use one or two of those.

She and the younger girl walked up the hill towards the castle side by side. Half-way up, Ivy Longbottom turned around and grinned. "Seriously though, Harry is mine." She said, once more pointing her tongue. Fleur chuckled a little, happy that the girl could take the situation with humour.

Many years later, Fleur (then Weasley) would look back at this moment as the beginning of her friendship with her best friend Ivy Potter. It was a good day.

* * *

 _Thank you for reading, I hope you had fun._


	4. The Darkest Black

**The Darkest Black**

 _This is for the Draco in Leather Pants part of the Tropes and Cliché challenge run by Coding Gengar. It's about someone on the side of the villains having a platonic/romantic relationship with someone on the side of the heroes who tries to change them (and possibly fails). Additional prompt was 'Black'. I don't own Harry Potter._

* * *

She was sitting alone in her living room, late at night, when she heard the knock on her front door. She slowly got up to answer it. Other women would be afraid to hear someone knocking on their door this late, but not her. She was a formidable witch. Always had been. Though that wasn't the reason why she was not frightened. It was simply that she knew what to expect. Knew who was knocking.

As she made her way to the door, she thought back to the last time she saw her visitor, three years ago. It should have been the best day of her life, instead it became the worst. For three years she had waited for him to come back for her. Tonight, finally, her suffering would end.

* * *

 _Flashback_

There it was, right in front of her. On a red velvet cushion, in an open box in Tom's hand. A ring. A beautiful ring. Gold, with small emeralds let in around the band in equal distance from each other. She had dreamed of this day for over a year. It was perfect. Everything was just as she had imagined it.

It was winter and there was a fire going in the fireplace. They'd had a small dinner. Tom had cooked her favourite. After dinner they had retired to the living room, and just when the full moon started shining through the window, Tom had taken out the box with the ring. He hadn't kneeled, of course. Tom would never kneel to anyone. She loved that about him. She loved every little thing about him.

She looked at the ring. It was glimmering at her. Inviting her. Seducing her. It would be so easy. Say yes, let Tom put the ring on her finger and get everything she had dreamed of.

But now that the moment she dreamed of was here, she couldn't do it. She knew. She just couldn't. She loved him so much, but she knew she would never be able to marry him now. Tom hadn't been the same since he'd come back from his journey to Transylvania a few weeks ago. And now this. She had seen the golden chalice. She might not have studied in Hogwarts, but she knew enough history to recognise it. And she knew that whoever the rightful owner was, it wasn't Tom.

What had he done?

She didn't want to think about it. But it was impossible not to. She was a powerful and accomplished witch. Not nearly as powerful as her love, but enough to feel the dark magic rolling of the priceless artefact in waves. She had felt it before. She knew what it was. The diary.

No, she couldn't marry him now. She could barely keep the tears out of her eyes at the thought of what her answer would have to be.

She could forgive him the death of the girl in Hogwarts and what he'd done to both his parents' families. They hadn't known each other back then. He had never felt loved by anyone before her, and he had done terrible, terrible things. But those she could forgive. She knew about the Gaunts and they weren't a big loss. And at least the part of her whose love for Tom was so great that she'd to everything he asked of her, the part of her that still wanted to accept his proposal thought his father's family had deserved it. The girl was a tragedy, but tragedies happened. It was hard, but she could forgive her love for those things.

But this. This she couldn't forgive. They'd started a life now. It was different for Tom. She had shown him love, she loved him with all her heart. Tom knew this, but now it turned out that it wasn't enough. The same reasons for which she could excuse his earlier deeds meant that this one was unforgivable. Oh, Tom still loved her, she was sure of that. But now he was going down a path she couldn't follow.

She slowly opened her mouth. Every inch cost her an immeasurable amount of willpower. Everything she could ever imagine wanting was right in front of her. The large part of her that wanted nothing more than to jump into Tom's arms and scream 'Yes!' argued that she'd known this was a possibility. That he would fall back. That this wasn't a surprise. That this didn't change anything. But there was a much smaller part of her that knew that wasn't true. And that part persisted.

"I can't…" The two words felt as if she was ripping out her own heart.

There it was. A flash of red in his eyes. She knew what her answer would do to him. Knew what it would mean. Whatever restraint he may have had until now, would be broken.

"Why not?" He demanded.

She reached out a hand and cupped his cheek. Looking into his black eyes. She loved his eyes so much. If she could sink into those eyes forever, she would do it without hesitation.

"What did you do, Tom?" She simply asked, still suppressing her need to cry.

Tom's eyes widened. Of course he understood what she meant. He was one of the most intelligent people she knew. "She was an old woman." He tried to explain. "She wouldn't have had much time left anyway. It's much better the chalice is with someone who can protect and honour it the way it should be."

She looked into his eyes sadly. "And this is you honouring it? I saw the diadem you brought back from your travels, you know? You aren't done yet." It was a statement of fact, not a question.

"You don't understand." He pleaded. She knew she was the only one who could make him plead for anything. "Once I have seven pieces, I will be invincible. We can rule the world. We can have everything you ever wanted." The expression in his eyes was almost enough to make her reconsider. Those eyes of his could make her do nearly anything. Tom was a murderer? So what? He'd done it for her.

With every ounce of her willpower she tore herself away from those black orbs. No. She couldn't. She knew if she gave in, it would never end. Never. And in the end both Tom and she would only be left as mere husks of themselves. And those black eyes that she loved so much would forever turn red. No.

She shook her head. "Everything I ever wanted was you. And now I can't have you." There were tears in her eyes and desperation in her voice.

"So you are really saying no?" Tom asked, his eyes wide as if he couldn't belief what he was hearing. He wasn't the only one who couldn't. After a couple of seconds his voice became more forceful. "You are really going to say no to me?"

His eyes once more flashed red in anger but she didn't flinch away. "I'm sorry." She repeated. "I can't."

There was the hint of wetness at the tips of her fingers, where a single tear had rolled out of Tom's eye. He blinked once and another tear fell. Then he abruptly turned and left the house, without another word.

She waited for him to come back for the whole night. He never did.

 _Flashback ends_

* * *

She opened the door and for the first time in three years looked at the man she still loved. Often she had blamed herself. Maybe if she'd been a bit more observant instead of so much in love, she could've seen it coming. Maybe she could've stopped Tom before he committed those acts. Maybe she lost her love because of her own negligence.

The man in front of her barely bore any resemblance to the man she remembered. He was bald now, gone was the beautiful black hair. His nose was flat, like those of the snakes he so loved. But most heartbreaking of all, his eyes. Those beautiful black orbs she had so happily sunk into for hours at a time were gone. Replaced by pure crimson.

She stepped to the side. "Welcome, Tom. I knew you were back. I wondered when you'd come calling." She greeted her love with a smile.

"Lucia." Tom said in a high, artificial sounding voice. He nodded his head. "It has been too long." He stepped past her and into the house.

"It is good to see you." Lucia told him. "Even though the years haven't been kind to you." She added with a snort.

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Still the same humour, I see. And still no fear."

"Why should I fear you, Tom?" Lucia asked.

"You know why I'm here?"

"Of course. What did you bring for me?"

Tom smiled and removed the diadem Lucia had seen him bring back from Transylvania all those years ago. "I'm going to Hogwarts tomorrow to apply for the position as Defence Professor one last time. It seems appropriate that the piece of my soul that is connected to you should reside in the one place I ever felt at home in."

"I appreciate the thought." Lucia said with a smile. There was no point in being afraid. She'd known for a long time that Tom would come back one day to kill her. At the moment she had said no, she had known the consequence it would eventually bring. She was fine with that. Death didn't have any negative meaning to her. It was much preferable to a life without Tom. And in a twisted way she was happy to know he still cared enough to make such considerations as he had just explained to her.

"Will you fight me?" Tom asked interestedly.

Lucia shook her head. "No. I won't."

Tom chuckled. "I didn't think you would. Shame. It would've been a worthy duel."

"Can I make a last request?"

"Of course." Tome smiled magnanimously. "Everything for you."

"Can you show me your real eyes one last time?"

Tom raised an eyebrow. "How do you know I am capable of that?"

"I know you, Tom. You knew I would make this request. And I know you would never deny me that."

Sighing, Tom closed his eyes. "You always knew me better than was good for you."

His eyes opened again and Lucia's breath hitched. There it was. That pure, beautiful black. She smiled and cupped Tom's cheek, looking deeply into his eyes. At that moment, it was as if he was still her Tom. As if everything that had split them apart hadn't happened. Before she knew what she was doing, Lucia had raised herself on her toes and captured Tom's lips in a lingering kiss. Tom hadn't kissed her back, but it wasn't necessary.

She pulled back a little, her hand remaining on Tom's cheek, and stared into his eyes with renewed determination. "I'm ready." She told him.

Tom sighed again. "Are you sure I cannot convince you to join me? A witch of your calibre and intelligence would be a hard loss."

"No, Tom. I could never join you in your quest to destroy yourself. One day all your soul will be back together again. And I will wait for you on the other side when that happens. No matter how long that takes."

"Very well, Lucia. I shall respect your wishes. Not many receive such respect from me. But for you, it is the least I can do."

For a moment, the world stood still, while Lucia simply looked into Tom's face, intently staring into the two black orbs she loved so much. Her life may end now, but she would never regret having met and loved Tom. She could never do that. A smile spread on her face, half because of her state of mind and half because of Tom. It would certainly be a long time before another would give Tom a real, honest, feeling smile. "I love you." She whispered.

There was a flash of green in the room, but she never saw it. Nor did she see the teardrop that rolled down Tom's face. As the life left her body she continued to sink into Tom's black eyes. In the moment of her death it was as if her smile became just a little brighter.

Now all she saw was black. The darkest black. Just like she always wanted.

* * *

 _Thanks for reading :)_


	5. Changing for the Better

**Changing for the Better**

 _This is for the Draco in Leather Pants part of the Tropes and Cliché challenge run by Coding Gengar. It's about someone on the side of the villains having a platonic/romantic relationship with someone on the side of the heroes who tries to change them (and possibly fails). Additional prompt was 'Old Battery'. I don't own Harry Potter._

* * *

"And what's this thing?" Pansy Parkinson asked half sneering, but also sounding mildly interested.

Harry peered into her open palm, to see what she was holding. "That's a battery." He replied.

"What's it good for?"

"It holds an electrical charge to power devices that need to be portable and cannot be connected to an electrical line." He looked at the battery again. "Well, not that one probably. That one's old and it's charge has been used a long time ago."

Pansy's eyebrows rose. "They aren't reusable?"

"These days some of them can be recharged. But not all."

"Seems like a waste to produce those that can't be recharged if rechargeables are available."

Harry couldn't help but grin. "You seem quite interested for someone who professes not to care for Muggles."

"How could I not? When my boyfriend is such a Muggle lover." Pansy shot back.

Harry snorted, but then smiled at her warmly, receiving an equally warm smile back. Boyfriend. Right. If someone had told him that fifteen years ago, he'd had laughed them out of the room.

"If I confess that I may be more interested in Muggles than I claimed, would you introduce me to your relatives?" Pansy asked in a mockingly sweet voice.

"Definitely not." Harry responded without losing a beat. Pansy may no longer hate Muggles or Muggleborns, but Harry's relatives seemed to be the exception to the rule. And Harry would be the first to agree that his girlfriend could be rather vicious with people she didn't approve of.

Pansy pouted. "Then forget it." She started twirling the old battery around in her fingers and continued looking around in the knickknacks inside Arthur's shack. They'd come here so Pansy could take a short breather from the Weasleys. They were quite a handful and Pansy didn't have the years of tolerance built up that Harry had. At least that's what she said.

Observing his girlfriend with a smile, he remembered how he'd first met her again after Hogwarts. It had been five years after the battle.

* * *

 _Flashback_

Harry took a relaxing cup of coffee in his office in the DMLE when he heard a shout.

"I need to see Harry Potter." The voice belonged to a woman and sounded somewhere between urgent and panicked.

"Ma'm, why don't you tell me what this is about and I will see whether Auror Potter is the right person to address."

"No, I don't trust you. I need to speak to Potter personally."

"Miss Parkinson…" Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise when he heard the name, "… I'm afraid I need you to calm… no, Miss Parkinson you can't just…"

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

"Potter, are you in there? Please, I need your help! Please!"

Harry hesitated for just a moment. After all the last time he'd heard Pansy Parkinson's voice it had been to advocate handing him over to Voldemort. But Harry had never been able to ignore a plea for help, so after just a second he quickly strode towards the door of his office and opened it.

The scene he came upon was in no way reconcilable with the image of the snobby, entitled girl Harry remembered hanging on Malfoy's arm. Her face was dirty and tear stained. There was a cut on the back of her right hand and large bruise on her left cheek. Two Aurors stood behind her, about to grab her arms to pull her away from his door while a third one was in the process of drawing his wand. Harry was confused. The Auror she'd been talking to had been a Slytherin pureblood. Why had he tried to stop her and why did she claim not to trust him?

Making a quick decision he looked at each of the three Aurors. "I'll take it from here." He said firmly.

The Auror manning the desk didn't seem happy, but he didn't say anything. Harry filed that away for later. He was just about to ask Pansy into his office, when she started pleading with him again.

"Please, you have to send people to my parent's house. They've kidnapped a Muggle family and they'll kill them as soon as they notice I'm gone. There are two little children there. I tried to get them out myself but I couldn't get past my father's wards. Please."

Harry blinked. He was about to give the order, but then he stopped himself. It could be a trap. Darkmoor Castle (the home of the Parkinson family) was large and it could easily hide an ambush. Before he could question the woman in front of him any further, she quickly added "I'll take Veritaserum, swear an oath, whatever you want. Just do it now."

Five minutes later Pansy had sworn an oath, repeated the story under Veritaserum and had even given a memory for later review. Now Harry was in the Head Auror's office, giving his emergency report. Twenty minutes later the Aurors had taken Darkmoor Castle and rescued a family of six Muggles, one grandmother, two parents and three children, two of whom were not even eight.

 _Flashback ends_

* * *

It later turned out that Pansy had first written a letter to the department, but whichever Auror received it had tipped of Pansy's father instead of checking the lead. That resulted in Pansy's injuries and her distrust of pureblood Aurors. Naturally, the Head Auror took on Pansy's case personally, and Harry only saw her again briefly during the ensuing trials. Pansy's family, without Pansy, got long sentences to Azkaban and nearly all of their assets were seized. There was also a sweep through the Auror office, resulting in fifteen discharges and later sentences ranging between gross negligence and treason. At the time it was one of the largest scandals of the post Voldemort Ministry, though interestingly, Pansy's name had been kept out of the media.

After the trials, Pansy vanished again from Harry's radar, but Harry didn't pay it much mind. It took three years before he met her again. He'd just stepped out of a pub in Nocturne Alley, where he'd met with an informant.

* * *

 _Flashback_

"A knut, please?"

Harry turned towards the pitiful voice coming from the ground between two heaps of waste. There were many beggars in this part of Nocturne, but the voice had somehow drawn his attention. It took him a few seconds of looking the filthy woman in the corner up and down, before he realised why.

"Parkinson?"

The woman's eyes shot up in surprise. It was clear that she hadn't looked at who she was begging from.

"Potter…" She acknowledged after a moment.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked, still in shock.

Parkinson sneered at him. Which, given her current looks and position, Harry found to be quite an impressive feat. "What does it look like, Potter?" She spat.

The colleague Harry had come with stepped in front of him. "You can't talk to him like that."

Parkinson just raised an eyebrow, as if asking what the man thought he could do to her. Harry put a hand on his colleague's arm and pulled the guy back. It had been a stupid question after all and if he was honest, Harry liked that Parkinson didn't treat him special. These days even his old pureblood enemies like Malfoy tended to walk on eggshells around him.

"What happened to you, Parkinson?" Harry asked the woman.

"What do you think? After the Ministry seized all my family's possessions I had to get a job. Turns out however, I can't get one."

Harry frowned. "That can't be right. You were one of the best in our year in Potions and there is always a shortage of brewers." Probably Parkinson just couldn't get a job because she thought herself to good for what was available.

However, his statement was met with another sneer. "Don't play stupid, Potter. I tried everything, even a job as a Maid. Half-Bloods and Muggleborns won't hire me because of my last name, and purebloods won't do it because of what happened three years ago. And my so-called friends decided that it was too dangerous to associate with a social pariah like me." She chuckled bitterly. "Turns out you're all the same, just with different prejudices. Now move along and leave me. I don't want your pity."

Harry looked at Parkinson closely but he couldn't see any deception in her face. He knew he was under no obligation to help, but it didn't sit right with him that she ended up like this because she had tried to do the right thing. That wasn't supposed to happen. So he made a snap decision.

"Get up." He ordered.

"Huh?"

"Get up. You can clean up and crash at my place tonight. Any of the seven guest bedrooms is yours. And tomorrow I'll take you to the Ministry and we'll find you some sort of job."

Parkinson looked up at him with eyes as wide as saucers for a few moments. Then she seemed to get over her shock. "Are you crazy?"

 _Flashback ends_

* * *

It had taken Harry more than an hour to talk Pansy into agreeing with his plan. She had claimed she didn't want pity, and that she could comfortably sleep in the corner with copious amount of cushioning and warming charms applied and many other things to convince Harry to go away. Eventually though, when evening came and the air grew colder, Pansy had relented. Why Harry had cared so much, he couldn't really say. It was mostly that feeling that if you do the right thing, you shouldn't be punished for it. He was never good at ignoring such injustices.

After cleaning up and a good nights sleep in an actual bed, Pansy had looked much better, though good had still been ways off. He took Pansy to the Ministry, certain that using his name he would be able to find her some sort of job as an assistant. If she flunked out of that because she wasn't prepared to do work, then at least his conscience would be clear. It turned out much harder than he expected. Like Pansy had said, the more progressive Ministry workers didn't want to be associated with anything to do with the Parkinson name and the more traditionalist ones refused to employ Pansy for various pretend reasons, but it was clear they were cross with her for the sweeping of the Auror office. Her state of being underfed and generally sickly hadn't helped much either.

Desperate, Harry remembered that Hermione, who was working in the Magical Creatures Office, was looking for an assistant. It took him the whole afternoon, but he managed to get his best friend to agree to try out Pansy ("This is the worst thing you ever made me do ever, Harry."), and the rest of the evening to get Pansy to agree to take the job ("I cannot believe you think it's a good idea for me to work for Granger of all people."). In the end, however, he was successful and Pansy started the next week, spending most of the time in between in Grimmauld Place trying to get into some sort of workable shape.

How he and Pansy had ended up as roommates, Harry to this day didn't really know. At first it had been necessity. Pansy had no savings, virtually no possessions and her job didn't earn her a lot. Since she insisted on paying her share of the food, it took five months for Pansy to get together everything she needed and to be able to start saving up any kind of money. And even though Harry had offered to loan her the deposit for a small flat after the first two months, Pansy had flat out refused, not wanting to take any more charity from him. Really, she was too prideful for her own good, but then again Harry wasn't really one to talk.

Somewhere along the way, Harry had come to enjoy Pansy's presence. She was brutally honest and treated him in a normal way. Possibly the only person who did so, save the ones he'd been close to before the second war. Thus when the time came that Pansy could have gotten her own flat, Harry simply neglected to throw her out. Pansy, it turned out, wasn't in a hurry to leave the luxury of Grimmauld Place either and so she eventually simply started paying him rent for her room.

His friends weren't particularly happy. Even though Hermione was begrudgingly impressed with Pansy's work, those two had fought one battle too many in school times and Harry knew it would take a lot of time for any sort of private relationship be possible. And of course Ron and Slytherins had never been any good together. But his friends allowed him to do his thing, and so Pansy became his roommate rather than charity project.

Being on a more even footing, they soon settled into a new, very comfortable routine around each other. Many evenings were spent discussing Muggles and Muggleborns and their place in society, and ever so slowly Pansy, who had mostly tolerated them out of necessity after the war, became more open to Harry's arguments about equality. On the other hand Harry started to understand some of the less extreme purebloods, who simply wanted the people who came into their world to understand their customs without judgement. It took over a year, but eventually they acknowledged their mutual friendship to each other.

Soon after that, around two years after Harry found Pansy in Nocturne Alley, they were for the first time confronted with the possibility that there was more than friendship between them.

* * *

 _Flashback_

Harry woke up with the mother of all headaches. It was extremely bright in his room, the sun shining into the window as if someone had paid it to make him miserable. The day before, he remembered, he had finished a very long and trying case and he had visited the three broomsticks with some other Aurors to celebrate. Remembering also that he had the day off, Harry decided to go back to sleep. However, as he turned onto his side and away from the sun, Harry's hand landed on something soft. And round. That smelled nice. And seemed to sigh when you squeezed it.

Harry opened his eyes. Blinked once. Blinked again. Blinked a third time. Then his mind caught up with what he was seeing.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

 _Flashback ends_

* * *

Needless to mention, Pansy had not been happy being woken by his scream. Especially since, if possible, she had been even more hung over than Harry. However, when she realised where she was and that both of them were naked, she quickly got over her annoyance and opted for horror instead. Pansy quickly ran out of the room and when the two of them met in the kitchen for breakfast an hour later, cleaned up and dressed, there seemed to be a silent understanding never to mention that morning again.

At first that strategy seemed to work rather well. Until half a year later, after successfully completing the investigations for another hard case, Harry found himself in nearly exactly the same position again. Quarter of a year after that, it happened again. And then again two months after that. While he did his best to ignore it, the increasing frequency of those 'mishaps' did not elude Harry. Neither did the fact that the two of them lingered in bed a little while longer every time, before one of them would get embarrassed and leave.

It was one and a half year after the first time he woke up next to Pansy, when Harry was promoted to Auror Captain, next in line to be Head Auror. He'd come home that evening in order to invite Pansy out to celebrate with him and some other friends. But as soon as he had mentioned his promotion and, crucially, before he could mention the celebration, Pansy had hugged him tightly and before either of them knew what was happening, they were kissing heatedly. No alcohol was consumed that night, but plenty of calories were burned. The same was true for the following morning. And the night after that.

So, maybe understandably, Harry had been surprised about Pansy's response when he asked her out officially.

* * *

 _Flashback_

"Are you out of your mind? The Boy-Who-Lived cannot go out with Pansy Parkinson."

"Why not?" Harry asked, not really knowing what to make of Pansy's answer. After their drunken and sober activities, he'd been sure she would agree to an official date. In fact, he'd thought she would expect one.

"Because you are a local hero and since what happened with my family the name Parkinson has overtaken the Malfoy name as the most villainous name in post-Voldemort Britain."

"Who would care?"

Pansy snorted. "I can see the headlines now: 'Boy-Who-Lived Presents Parkinson Daughter as Girlfriend! Is Our Saviour Going Dark?' or maybe 'Dark Witch Seduces Boy Wonder: He Saved Us and Now We Must Save Him!'"

"But you are none of those things."

"I was. In school, I was. Harry, I wanted to hand you over to the Dark Lord. Even when I reported my family, it wasn't because I thought they shouldn't torture the Muggles. I didn't care about them at all. I just couldn't bear to think about the little children."

"You're not like that anymore. You changed." Harry contended stubbornly.

"Maybe, maybe not." Pansy shrugged.

"Don't pretend, Pansy. Hermione and I are best friends, you know? I know you've been working closely with her to get laws for the protection of creatures passed and that you helped her with Muggle and Muggleborn laws as well when she was lend to that department. She tells me half the laws would have failed without your political know-how."

"It's my job. That doesn't mean I necessarily support those laws we passed."

"So do you?" Harry simply asked, waiting for the answer feeling more nervous than he wanted to admit.

It took a long time, but eventually Pansy shrugged again. "I suppose our discussions may have helped change my views." Then she shook her head. "But it won't matter to anyone."

"It matters to me." Harry objected. "And it matters to Hermione, too, I know."

"It would destroy your reputation. I won't do that to you."

"You know I don't give a damn about my reputation, Pansy." Pansy opened her mouth again, but before she could say something, Harry quickly pulled her into a kiss. For a second she didn't react, then she started kissing him back. Before it could get heated again, like the evenings before, Harry pulled back. "If you don't want to go out with me, that's fine. But don't try and find excuses. I tried that the last six months and I'm out of excuses now."

Pansy looked uncertain. "It will be hard."

Harry grinned at her. "Harder than defeating Voldemort?"

Pansy blinked a couple of times. Then she nodded. "Fair enough." With that, she started kissing him again.

 _Flashback ends_

* * *

A smile spread on Harry's lips as he watched his girlfriend of the last three years twirling the old battery in her hand. There was a small _clang_ sound whenever it hit the small gold band on her ring finger. Her eyes were still taking in all the bits and pieces of Muggle equipment in Arthur's shack. It was nice to know that these days even all the Weasleys accepted his fiancée, even though some did so grudgingly. Finally she turned around and grinned.

"Mister Weasley really has no idea how most Muggle things work, does he?"

"Nope." Harry agreed. "I guess you have more of an idea than he by now."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Great, now I'll have to give back my pureblood club card."

"On the other hand, you get to keep me." Harry offered.

Mockingly, Pansy tipped her finger against her chin and pouted a little in consideration. Then she nodded. "I suppose that is a fair deal." She looked at the battery in her hand for a couple of seconds, then back at Harry. "So, I thought it might be good if our children go to Muggle primary school. I don't want them to come in here by accident and swallow something. And since you insist on being friends with the Weasleys, there is a real danger there."

Harry snorted. His fiancée would say anything in order to be able to pretend she held no private interest in Muggles. "Sure." He deadpanned. "Whatever you say."

Pansy nodded. "Most assuredly whatever I say." With a flick of her wrist the battery was thrown back into the basket Pansy had taken it from. She sauntered over to the door and towards Harry. When she arrived, pulled Harry down into a long, loving kiss, before she took his hand and led him out of the shed.

All was well.

* * *

 _I hope you enjoyed :)_


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